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NIGHT-HERONS. 
Following the true Bitterns, but of a stronger 
form, we have a small group of birds known under 
the Anglicised name of Night-Heron, or Night- 
Haven ; the latter given evidently from the hoarse 
call uttered by them, and from their feeding during 
the night, and remaining inactive during the day. 
They are generally distributed over the different 
quarters of the world ; breed in companies, and on 
trees, and have the plumage of some dark chaste 
shade of grey, olive, or brown, above ; white below, 
but tinted in parts with the same colour as that of 
the upper parts; the head crested generally with 
three long narrow feathers. 
Nycticorax. — Generic characters — Bill strong, 
rather short, bending from the base, tip notched, 
cutting edges not senated ; legs feathered to 
the knees, inner toe shorter than the outer ; 
head generally crested. 
Types, N. Gardenii, Americanus. Cosmopolite. 
Note. — Nocturnal, gregarious during incubation, 
breed on trees. 
